Keep Swimming
by DontStopBealeiving
Summary: Beca is very unsure of her life, and Chloe helps her along the way. If Beca keeps swimming she'll eventually end up where she needs to be. Rating will vary throughout the story.
1. Finding Beca

If I had a nickel for every time Chloe Beale touched me I would be a millionaire. I'm not joking.

It's not that I didn't like the physical contact, I just wasn't used to it. Growing up in a house like mine, hugs and kisses and cuddling weren't the norm. The norm was shouting, cursing, and insulting.

It sounds tragic, I know, but I'd grown accustomed to it.

I'd been lost in thought when Chloe looked up at me, raising her head from my shoulder. "Beca?" She questioned. "Are you okay? You're sort of spacing out."

"I'm just dandy," I smiled.

She didn't seem completely satisfied with my answer, but turned back to _Finding_ _Nemo _anyways. She snuggled even closer to me. (I didn't even think being closer was possible.)

_Why does she like this movie so much? What's so appealing about a fish? _

I tried to concentrate on the movie, but I just couldn't. My thoughts kept wandering elsewhere...

Did I still want to go to L.A. at the end of this semester? The red head curled up at my side was beginning to convince me otherwise. My father wasn't being serious when he said he would help me move anyways.

There was no way I'd be able to leave Chloe. I'm certain my father knew that.

Why do I call my father "father" instead of "dad" you ask? Dad is a title someone earns. He hadn't earned it so far.

Living close to the man wasn't exactly high on my list. He'd offered me a room in his house when I'd first gotten to Barden. I declined, obviously. Why would I accept anything from him? He was already making me go to college...

College wasn't necessarily a bad thing though... One glance at Chloe was enough to prove that. One glance at the Bellas and the friends that I had made was enough to prove that. _Maybe my father was actually trying to be my dad..._

Chloe tightly squeezed my arm, tearing me from my thoughts. "Becs you can't miss this!"

_"No one's ever stuck with me for so long before..." _Dory was spilling her heart out to Marlin. I looked down at the ginger. _Is she trying to tell me something here?_

The movie had my attention now. As Marlin swam down to his son, laying on the ocean floor presumably dead (of course he wasn't dead, this was a movie, movies have happy endings) I felt my chest tighten. _Oh hell no. I'm not crying because of a children's movie!_

"_Dad, I don't hate you..." _Dammit. I was going to cry because of a children's movie.

_"I'm so sorry Nemo." _I let a tear fall. I couldn't help it. That dad swam all the was across the ocean for his child.

_Chloe... _I could see why she wanted me to watch _Finding Nemo_ now. She was trying to tell me to give my father another shot.

I was crying even harder at that point. I wasn't even crying because of the movie anymore. Chloe knew that. She wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly.

**I hugged her back.**


	2. Phone Call

The idea of giving my father another chance had been floating around my head for days now. Chloe kept telling me to call him. If you asked me, I wouldn't admit it, but in all honesty I was afraid.

I was afraid of hurting him, or him hurting me. At least at the current moment, no one was getting hurt.

I wish it was easy to forget the past, and everything that someone has done to you. I'm telling you right now folks, it's impossible. You'll always remember harsh words. You'll always remember the tears that had been shed.

"Chlo, what are you doing?" She was digging around in my cupboard.

"You seriously have nothing to eat! How can you live like this?!" The woman seemed concerned about my eating habits. I shrugged. "Beca Mitchell don't you dare igno-" She was cut off by my phone ringing. _Saved by the phone. _

My stomach dropped as I looked at the caller ID. _Warren... _

"Beca are you alright? You're really pale..." I shook my head.

"It's my father," I said before answering it.

"Hello?" I asked cautiously...

_"Hi Beca are you busy?" _Chloe raised an eyebrow and mouthed _'no.'_

"Uhm... no I'm not. What's up?"

_"I need to talk to you." _That's never good.

"Sure. About what exactly?" This is what I wanted to avoid. Of course he would call me. It was just my luck.

_"Your grades have been... not well lately. I'm starting to re-consider my offer about helping you move to L.A." _Chloe put a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

"What? That's not fair! You promised! I knew you would do this!" It's true. I knew it.

_"It's completely fair. Besides, I did you a favor Beca. You were never good at making decisions. I just gave you a push in the right direction." _I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"A push in the right direction? You _forced_ me to come to Barden! It wasn't a push! It was a shove! You want me to fit this perfect image of yours, when I just want to be myself! Why can't you fucking accept me for who I am?" I was fuming.

_"I want you to be successful." _I couldn't stand to hear another word. I hung up the phone and decided to shut it off to avoid another unpleasant phone call.

Chloe pulled me in for a hug. I didn't want it to end. It made me feel so safe, like she could protect me. That embrace was the only thing holding me together at the moment. I clung to her.

"Just keep swimming," Chloe said softly. At first I was confused. Then I realized it was a reference to _Finding Nemo_. _Just keep swimming..._

"Fuck him," my words were muffled, as my face was buried in the crook of her neck. She was stroking my hair.

"Becs you can't let him get to you. If you let that happen then he wins. You don't want him to win, do you?" I shook my head. "Good. Keep being you, Beca. Beca Mitchell, bad ass DJ extraordinaire. You're amazing. Don't doubt it for a single second." She kissed the top of my head.

It was in this moment, when I gazed up into her baby blue eyes, that I realized just how much I actually loved Chloe Beale.


	3. Groceries

A loud pounding on my door tore my attention from the mix I was working on. I sighed.

"Becs open up my arms are gonna fall off!" Of course it was Chloe. No one else really visited me. I opened the door and the redhead ran straight for my kitchen, dropping bags of groceries on the ground clearly out of breath.

"Can I have some water please?" Chloe wheezed. I still had absolutely no idea what was going on, but got her a glass of water nonetheless. She quickly gulped it down and smiled at me.

"I told you the other day you have literally _nothing_ to eat! So I figured I'd stop and get you some groceries before coming over!" She seemed so proud of herself over this. It was so damn cute.

I glanced at the ground, finally noticing the amount of food she had gotten. There was _a lot._

"Chlo, you didn't have to do this... I mean that's a lot of food. I don't even want to know how much you spent on it!" There were juice boxes, two liters of soda, instant coffee, popcorn... _(that better not be related to watching movies...)_ You name it and it was there. Anything a college kid could ever need was sitting on the floor of my kitchen.

"Oh please. Don't worry about it. I also got this tub of ice cream. You've been kinda down and haven't really done anything since that phone call," at this she gestured to my body. It was true. I'd been wearing the same pair of sweat pants for days now... "Ice cream makes everything better." She knew me too well. "But change first, seriously."

When I came back out to the living room after changing, Chloe already had everything set up. She handed me a spoon and lifted up the blanket for me to slip under, and then clicked play on some movie. I didn't really care about the movie. I dug into the ice cream. It really could fix anything.

Chlo didn't really seem to be watching the movie either. She shut the laptop. "What happened between you and your dad?" I choked. She patted my back until I stopped coughing. "Sorry, that was kind of out of nowhere."

"It's fine," I replied. "I guess you should know." She nodded and waited for me to continue. "He always wanted me to fit this perfect image. He wanted me to get perfect grades, be the top of my class, do sports, get a scholarship... I couldn't be myself. I'd always wanted to impress him, so I tried, but it just wasn't me. When my parents divorced, he stopped talking to me all together. Out of nowhere, after years of not talking, he forced me to come here. I figured it was the only way I'd get to L.A. Clearly it was all made up anyways." When I finished, Chloe just shook her head.

"Do you... Do you regret coming here?" My heart broke a little bit at that.

"Absolutely not. I was upset at first, maybe still am, but I don't regret it. I met you, after all."

She sighed contemptly and laid her head on my chest. "I'm glad you came Beca." And then she drifted off to sleep.

_Goodnight Chlo. Sleep tight._


	4. Visit From The Stepmonster

Have you ever felt like the world had it out for you? So sick and twisted, and the world just wants to see you miserable? Well that's exactly how I felt when the stepmonster barged into my room at 6 am, clearly pissed off.

"Wake up midget!" She shouted at me. I groaned and reluctantly opened my eyes.

"Sheila? What the hell are you doing in my room so early in the morning?" Great way to start off the day! _Not..._

"You know damn well why I'm here!" The only problem was: I had no idea what she meant by that. I truthfully had no idea why the stepmonster was in my room at such an early hour.

"Okay, well before you rip my head off, I have to pee..." I ran to the bathroom, the door clicking shut behind me. As quickly as possible I sent a text to Chloe.

_Stepmonster just stormed into my room. What do I do? ~DJ _

Chloe was a morning person. My reply came seconds later.

_Do you know what she wants? ~Chlobear_

_Not the slightest idea. She came in pissed off and I don't know why. ~DJ_

_Go talk to her and see what she wants. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT give her any more reason to be angry. Don't be the aggressor. I'm here for you Becs. xoxo ~Chlobear_

_Noted. Thanks. 3 ~DJ_

Time to face Satan. I took a deep breath and slid out of the bathroom. I made my way back to the livingroom where Sheila had sat herself on my couch. I sat in a chair accross from her.

"Can I get you something to drink?" _'Don't be the aggressor...' _Chloe's so smart. Despite the nice gesture, Sheila chuckled and glared at me.

"Don't give me that innocent shit Beca." _Okay then..._ 'Innocent shit' my ass. Don't. Be. The. Aggressor. I smiled.

"Sheila, I'm not quite sure what I did. Why are you here right now?" She continued to glare at me, her brown eyes staring directly into my soul. If she glared any harder I would surely burst into flames.

"I'm sick of you disrespecting my family!" _Her _family? As in my father? It was becoming more difficult by the second to not be the aggressor...

"If you mean that argument I had with my dad, then I'm sorry. We were both upset and probably said some stuff we shouldn't have." The word 'dad' felt so foreign in my mouth. I hadn't called him that in years.

"I don't just mean that," she spat. "You've been nothing but unpleasent since you got here! I'm sick of it Beca! Grow up, you're in college now, not elementary school! Your dad and I are trying, but you've been so ungrateful! Can't you see everything we've done for you? Show some respect!" _Hate to break it to you honey, but any shred of respect I had for you just flew out the window._ I bit my tongue to keep the words from coming out.

I needed this to be over. I needed her to leave. I needed Chloe. When everything goes to shit I know I can count on her to improve my mood. "I'm sorry Sheila. Please leave." And she did. On her way out the door she turned to me. She needed to get in one final jab.

She said, "I can see why your dad went years without talking to you," before turning on her heels and slamming the door.

On the verge of a breakdown, I texted Chloe.

_I need you. ~DJ_

As expected, she didn't take long to reply.

_Already on my way, B! ~Chlobear_

Of course she was. I founded myself with a stupid smile on my face as I opened the door for her. Leave it to Chloe Beale to make me feel better. Just being around her made me smile. She hugged me but quickly pulled away when I yawned. It was 6:30 in the morning... I was still tired.

"You should get back to sleep Beca." Not like I had a say in the matter. She pulled me to bed. I laid down and she climbed in next to me, wrapping her arm around me pulling me in tight.

_"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming..."_ She sang me to sleep.


	5. Genuine Smile

I rolled out of bed to the smell of something burning. _Great, first Sheila, now my appartment is on fire..._ I ran to the source of the smell. _Chloe._

I tapped her on the shoulder. "Chloe, what are you doing?" She bit her lip and looked at me, then the burnt heap of _pancakes?_ then back at me, and then the pancakes again. She looked embarrassed. I'd be embarrassed too if my cooking was like that!

"I was just... uhm... making you breakfast," she said quietly.

"_That_ is charcoal, not breakfast." I laughed, worried I'd insulted her, but then she started laughing too.

"Okay well I kind of can't cook at all! The whole _'girls belong in the kitchen'_ thing definitely does not include me!" I smacked her arm playfully before taking over and grabbing the spatula from her.

"Watch and learn Beale," I said with a wink. Looking defeated, she sat down and waited for me to finish. Chloe immediately lightened up when I brought her a plate of pancakes that didn't look like charcoal.

"Beca, I had no idea you could cook! What other things are you hiding from me?" _If only you knew..._ I winked and sat next to her. "These are really good!" I did a double-take. Her pancakes were gone already.

"Do you want mine too? I'm not very hungry." Chloe clapped and nodded. I'd never seen someone so worked up over _pancakes_. I handed her my plate... And then she devoured those too.

She set the dishes off to the side and then snuggled up really close to me. I'd gotten used to her touchy feely tendencies, though I'll admit they surprised me at first.

"So..." She took a minute, thinking about what to say. "What happened? What did Sheila want?" I'll never understand how she could act like a five year old one second and then like a therapist the next.

I started playing with the ring on my left hand. It was a habit of mine when I was nervous. Chloe, noticing this, placed her hand over mine and gave me a reassuring smile. "Hey, it's okay." I nodded and took a breath before I started.

"She just... I was trying to be nice. I offered her a drink, I was all smiles. I wasn't being the aggressor. She was having none of it. She was shouting... She said I was disrespectful, that she was sick of me disrespecting her family." Chloe looked like she was going to cry.

"I'm really sorry you have to deal with that Becs. I hate seeing you upset." Her care was touching. No one had ever really been there for me like Chloe was.

"It's alright Chlo. I'm fine." I smiled sadly. She just shook her head.

"No Beca this situation is completely shitty and I wish I could do more to help you. You don't deserve all this and I really wish it'd just stop! I want to see a genuine smile from you! I want you to be happy and I want your dad and Sheila to just back off and let you do your thing because-" I cut her off with a kiss. I couldn't help it.

I was expecting her to leave. I was fully prepared to have lost the best friend I'd ever had. I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't though. She didn't leave. She didn't pull away. She kissed me back. "I love you Chloe." I gave her the genuine smile she wanted.

"I love you too Beca."

_I love you too..._

I always thought things like that only happened in movies. The character with the shitty life gets the partner of their dreams. I was proven wrong.

...

**A/N: So we're close to the end of the story, with only one more chapter left. This has been really fun to write, and I thank everyone for their support! xoxo**


	6. Keep Swimming

_6 Years Later..._

I slowly got out of the car, Aubrey nodding with encouragement.

"I'll be right here, Beca. You need to do this." It's true, I did. I needed to move on.

The leaves crunched under my feet as I made my way to her grave. I sat on the bench next to the small tombstone. I tightened my coat as the crips wind blew straight through me.

_"Hey..._

_Everyone has been telling me to do this..._

_I didn't want to accept it at first, I still don't want to accept it._

_I loved you Chloe. I'll never stop loving you._

_Six years of waking up to your beautiful smile, and then suddenly it was gone._

_It was as if you'd just disappeared from everything._

_I miss you. I miss you every hour of the day. I wish you'd just come back to me._

_I know it's not possible. I'll never have you in my arms again._

_I was so scared, Chlo. I'd gotten a call from the hospital saying you were in a car crash._

_They said you probably wouldn't make it._

_I didn't believe them. I didn't want to believe them. _

_It was unreal. I blamed Aubrey. She was the one driving after all._

_Then I realised that no one was at fault. _

_Sometimes things just happen with no reason._

_A sick twist of fate can take someone you love away from you..._

_You were my everything._

_I gave you my all and made sure that until the very end you knew it._

_I dedicated every moment of my life to you, to see you happy and to hold you._

_You showed me relationships could work._

_You showed me that not everyone had to be like my parents._

_You comforted me when I needed it, even if it involved watching a stupid movie._

_One stupid movie in particular. Nemo._

_If you were here right now, you'd probably tell me to 'keep swimming.'_

_I'll keep swimming Chloe, I promise. I'll keep swimming for the both of us._

_I'll swim until I finally join you. We'll be together again some day._

_I love you, Chloe. This is goodbye, for now."_

I was sobbing uncontrollably by the time I finished. Aubrey had gotten out of the car at some point and seated herself next to me. It was raining, but I didn't care. The raindrops mixed with my tears and ran down my face. Aubrey was crying too. We sat there for what felt like forever.

I don't know why terrible things happen to good people. I'll never understand how someone can be by you one second, and then whisked away the next. They say things happen for a reason, but those reasons are just so hard to find. Maybe I'll never know.

**A/N: So that's it. I hope you liked it! Keep swimming! xoxo**


	7. All Is Well

I cautiously reached for the doorbell, then quickly pulled my hand back. I couldn't do it. There was no way. Not now, not ever, would I be able to push that stupid button. I stood there awkwardly until Aubrey finally helped me out and pressed the button herself.

The door swung open and,_ gee golly_, there stood Sheila.

"Uhm... hey..." I said awkwardly, refusing to make eye contact.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Harsh much? Aubrey instantly jumped in, saving me from certain doom.

"Hi Sheila. Is Mr. Mitchell here?" I don't understand how she managed to be so polite. Why wasn't she crippled with fear at the face of the devil? I once thought Aubrey was the devil though... Maybe her and Sheila would get along? Aubrey was definitely the lesser of two evils.

Sheila grunted before calling out to my father. He descended the staircase, newborn baby tucked in his arms. "Yes honey?" And then he saw me. He handed Sheila their child before dismissing her.

"Beca? Why are you here?" _Your guess is as good as mine pal..._

"I just... It's been six years, Dad. I think I want to fix this._ Fix us_." He stared at me awestruck. I couldn't tell if he was more surprised to see me, or that I was initiating contact. It was probably a mix of both... Aubrey smiled, satisfied that her job was done, and returned to car to wait.

"I never thought I'd see you with Aubrey Posen," he observed. "Where's that redhead that was always with you?" My breath hitched in my throat as tears welled in my eyes.

"She's dead, Dad. She's gone." He pulled me into an embrace. It was the first physical contact I'd had with him in at least seven years. It was so comforting. I cried, and I let my father hold me. I'd been missing out on this for so long that I never thought I would have it.

"Come inside then," he said softly. I felt bad leaving Aubrey out in the car, but she just nodded, letting me know it was okay. I followed him into the kitchen where I was seated at the island. Sheila was upstairs probably putting the baby to sleep or something.

"I've been so lost without her," I choked out. "I miss her, Dad. I miss her so much. Sometimes I wish that she'd taken me with her. I feel so alone. I feel so lost..." This caused me to cry even harder.

"You're not alone, Beca. Believe it or not, I'm here for you. You have a friend sitting out in a car for you. You're far from it. I know things are tough right now. They'll probably always be tough. But Chloe wouldn't want this. She'd want you to be happy." I let his words sink in. He was right. Chloe wouldn't want this.

"Do you think... Can we just forget the past? I want a dad. I'm so sorry. You were right about everything. Even L.A. I'm so glad I stayed. I love you." I meant it. And then I imagined how different my life would be if I'd moved at the end of my first year. I wouldn't have been with Chloe. I wouldn't have experienced the incredible joy that came hand in hand with her. I wouldn't be here, in this house with my dad right now.

"I'm glad you stayed too," he said before wrapping me up in another hug. "I love you more than you'll ever know."

_All is well, Chlo. I'm still swimming._


End file.
